Economic Harmonies

In Economic Harmonies, Frederic Bastiat (1801–50) restates the basic principles of economics. Unfortunately, the author never completed the work, dying before putting the treatise into its final form. Its first 10 chapters were finished and printed as Book One of Economic Harmonies. The drafts and fragments that make up the chapters of Book Two contain important contributions to the theories of wages, savings, and capital.


Both Book One and Book Two are included in this Laissez Faire Books edition.


Economic Harmonies served in its day as a preface to the coming revolution wrought by Austrian economist Carl Menger and his followers and colleagues. Bastiat’s work helped set the stage for those who followed. Today, it can serve as a preface to economics. It contains a wealth of great ideas and some great writing. It is a whole stockpile of “intellectual ammunition.”